


if i ever have to leave (where would i go)

by twiddlingthumbs



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, F/F, Imaginary Friends, Weddings, imaginary friend!nayeon, mohyo's getting married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:21:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24996790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twiddlingthumbs/pseuds/twiddlingthumbs
Summary: Momo has been through a lot ever since childhood, but the company of an invisible friend always kept her strong as the years went by. Now she’s an adult, about to walk down the aisle on her wedding day, so what was Nayeon still sticking around for?
Relationships: Hirai Momo & Im Nayeon, Hirai Momo/Park Jisoo | Jihyo
Comments: 8
Kudos: 55
Collections: Ten's Birthday Fanfic Festival





	if i ever have to leave (where would i go)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [itotoro](https://archiveofourown.org/users/itotoro/gifts).



> Based on this prompt:
> 
> “Children who die at a young age are given a very special role in the afterlife: they become invisible friends, assigned to other children who need them back in the living realm.”
> 
> -
> 
> aaahh this is a bit rushed and it's unbeta'd as well so please excuse my bad writing HAHA i just thought it would be a nice concept to try
> 
> anyways this is to celebrate a fellow writer's birthday, [@makeMeGoTen](https://twitter.com/makemegoten) on twt!! and yeah i went triple kill and used all 3 of ur biases hehe :> happy birthday and i hope u enjoy!
> 
> go send some birthday wishes as well and read some of Ten's works while ur at it :))

“The car’s gonna be here soon,” Sana says as she helps Momo with fastening the clasp of her necklace, the final touch of her look for the day.

Momo isn’t really sure how to respond—her brain has been all over the place for almost the entire morning and for a portion of the day before. She settles with simple acknowledgement. “Okay.”

Once the necklace is secure, Sana takes a step back and Momo turns to face her so that she can assess Momo’s appearance properly. For a moment, judging by the way she brings her hands up to cover her mouth while her eyes curve into upside down crescents, Momo thinks Sana is about to cry.

That theory is confirmed when Sana suddenly sniffles.

“Sorry,” she says, wiping a tear that threatens to fall, “God, this is finally happening, huh?”

Momo rolls her eyes. “I feel like I’m the one who should be reacting like that.”

“And yet you’re so cool about everything right now.” Sana moves to the hotel room’s door, laying a hand on the knob. “Shall we?”

At that, Momo’s bravado falters a bit, but not enough for Sana to notice, because she doesn't know her well enough to be able to do so. After all, Momo has spent her life perfecting the act of hiding her emotions, never wearing her heart on her sleeve.

So, Momo just shakes her head and waves her off. “You go ahead. I’ll follow.”

“Alright,” Sana says, then she leaves Momo alone in the room.

Momo lets out a breath that she didn’t even know she was holding, then she turns around again to face the full-body mirror behind her. She stares at her reflection for a while, distracting herself with examining all the little details in her appearance.

She takes note of how her platinum blonde hair falls in gentle waves just below her shoulders, and she admires how her eyelashes curl up and how the light bounces off the highlight that graces her cheekbones. All of this complements the elegant white gown with gold embellishments she’s wearing that perfectly hugs the curves of her body and flows down to the floor with grace.

She looks beautiful. There’s a part of her that knows she’s beautiful.

But there’s another part of her that disagrees, and that very same part is also telling her that everything that could possibly go wrong today is going to go wrong.

She thinks about the potential for her to make a misstep when she walks down the aisle, to trip on an unflattened portion of the carpet or even just over her own feet.

She thinks about messing up in the middle of reciting her vows, or accidentally saying something that becomes open for interpretation which everyone, of course, takes the wrong way.

She thinks about Jihyo, who is going to be standing at the altar waiting for her, but she thinks about the chances of her running away, or saying  _ no _ when she’s asked if she will take Momo as her lawfully wedded wife, or just not being there at all when the doors open and Momo walks in the room.

“I hear thinking.” Momo is broken out of her spiral of thoughts when she hears Nayeon’s voice, then spots her reflection in the mirror. She’s sitting at the edge of bed with her legs crossed, clad in a sparkling red gown that is a stark contrast to that of the other bridesmaids who are wearing peach, much like Sana.

“My  _ god _ , Nayeon,” Momo says, and it comes out a bit winded because she’s still reeling from the surprise of her friend’s sudden presence. She raises a hand to her chest in an attempt to calm the way her heart is racing. “Will I ever get used to that?”

“I’ve been with you for almost your whole life, Momo. How are you  _ not _ used to it?” Nayeon stands from the bed to walk over to Momo so she can lay two comforting hands on her shoulders from behind. A recovering Momo is glad that Nayeon didn’t choose to disappear then reappear again in the spot where she now stands, because she doesn’t think she can handle any more sudden movements.

It’s moments like these—when Nayeon comes out of nowhere because she knows exactly what’s going through Momo’s head, while also knowing exactly what to do about it—that make Momo think about Nayeon’s existence in her life.

She first met Nayeon back when they were children living in an orphanage in Seoul—for what reason Momo’s biological parents decided to leave her in a foreign country at an age too young for her to remember them, she never knew, and never had it in her to find out. It didn’t matter too much because at least in the orphanage, she had her best friend Nayeon to keep her company.

She was always a lonely kid; the other children who lived there never really approached her and she herself also maintained a certain distance. There was only ever Nayeon, who the other kids didn’t seem interested in either.

One day, a particularly notorious girl with a resting bitch face approached Momo out of nowhere while she was sharing her Barbie dolls with Nayeon, and told her something that would have been completely out of line for any person with common decency—except all it did at the time for a six-year-old Momo was confuse her.

“You know why people don’t talk to you? Because you’re that one crazy girl who talks to herself all the time and shares her dolls with no one.”

Later that night, when everyone else was asleep, Momo and Nayeon were curled up under the blankets of their shared bed, though kids in the orphanage never actually shared beds. Nayeon just happened to bunk with Momo literally every night because they were just  _ that _ close. At least, that was what Momo understood.

“That girl earlier called me crazy,” Momo whispered to her companion, “She said I talk to myself. But I’m always talking to you.”

Nayeon visibly stiffened at that, unable to look Momo in the eye, and Momo noticed but she didn’t quite know what to make out of it because at her age, she didn’t exactly have a grasp of social cues and body language.

There was a question picking at Momo’s brain, something only a child would think to ask her friend whom nobody seemed to acknowledge.

“Are you my imaginary friend?”

Nayeon met her gaze then, biting her lower lip like she was caught in some kind of act, before answering in a hushed tone, “Something like that.”

Momo was content with that answer.

After that, Momo spent the rest of her childhood in that orphanage. Nobody seemed to want to adopt her—maybe even the adults were weirded out by that one girl who still talked to her imaginary friend—but Momo cared more about having Nayeon in her life than what other people thought of her.

When she was twelve years old, bordering on her teenage years when it was practically impossible to get adopted, Nayeon—whose outward appearance was also aging in sync with Momo’s—made a suggestion. “We should just run away.”

And so, they did. And from then on, it was always just the two of them, conquering the cruel world and jumping over its hurdles as best as they can.

Momo didn’t think she needed anything else.

That is, until Park Jihyo came into her life.

“Wow, your brain is loud today,” Nayeon says, snapping Momo’s attention back to the present, where Nayeon’s cool hands are still resting on her shoulders.

Momo meets her eyes in the mirror as she lets out a half-hearted chuckle. “I’m just nervous.”

“Yeah, clearly.” Nayeon shifts from where she stands, then in the blink of an eye she’s in front of Momo, arms crossed and a raised brow. “Mo, it's your  _ wedding day _ . Aren’t you supposed to be happy?”

“I am,” Momo says, and it’s not a lie, despite the uncertain expression on her face that says otherwise, “I am happy.”

Nayeon lets out a sigh, unfolding her arms and letting them fall to her sides. She gives Momo a more understanding look now, as if sensing all of the fearful undertones in the way Momo looks at her. “Everything’s gonna be fine, okay? Jihyo loves you. She’s not gonna hurt you.”

Momo furrows her brows, wants to deny the validation that Nayeon is giving her, wants to give in to the part of her that doesn’t believe she deserves anything good. Because even back then, when she was just a child who was too young to be her own person, her own parents decided that they didn’t want her, and no other adult wanted to take her in either. Even the kids at the orphanage didn’t want anything to do with her.

Who’s to say that Jihyo isn’t going to have a second thought about being with her? Who’s to say that she isn’t going to leave eventually, taking with her the friends she brought into Momo’s life during the time they’ve spent together?

That other part of her, the much louder and more annoying part, is screaming and nagging in her brain, repeating to her this cycle of unhealthy thinking that only two people are known to handle.

One of them is standing right in front of her. The one she doesn’t know a life without, the one who knows her the most, the one who has always been right. 

She stares Nayeon down with evident fear in her eyes, tension resting on her shoulders. She doesn’t say what’s on her mind because she knows Nayeon can sense it, can  _ feel _ it anyway.

“You can’t keep letting fear control your life, Momo,” Nayeon says, her voice soft and gentle and laced with the nurturing instinct of an older sister, “You can’t let it prevent you from enjoying things. You have a shot at full, unadulterated happiness, and I can  _ tell _ that you’re about to let your fear ruin it for you.”

Momo lets out a scoff. The annoying part of her takes its form now, seizing this moment of weakness to fight back at Nayeon’s reassurance. “Would it matter, though, if all of my worst fears came true anyway and everyone in my life right now decided to leave?”

Nayeon seems taken aback at that, knitting her brows together as if trying to understand what Momo is trying to say.

“Would it really matter if, in the end, at least I’d still have  _ you _ with me?”

But then Nayeon's brows unknit themselves, and she lets out another sigh as she takes a step towards Momo before reaching out and gripping the sides of her arms in a firm, comforting way. Her hands are cold to the touch, as they’ve always been, and it sends a chill down Momo’s spine, as it usually does.

“Momo, I won’t always be around to protect you,” Nayeon begins in that same careful tone from earlier, though with a mix of something that almost sounds solemn, “You can’t keep depending on me, not when you have a bunch of people now that can and  _ will _ support you. You have friends who willingly stepped up to be your bridesmaids, especially Sana who jumped at the chance to be your maid of honor. But more than anything, you have Jihyo, who wants to spend a lifetime with you. Who, I’m sure, loves all of the parts of you that I know and love as well.”

The way Nayeon says those words sounds heavy to Momo, and she wants to be able have this conversation with her and to fully understand what the other is trying to say—the cons of Nayeon being able to read her thoughts is that she can’t do the same in return—but her phone is ringing now and it’s Sana’s name that flashes across the screen, so Momo deduces that it’s time for her to go.

“Go,” Nayeon gives her arms one last squeeze, “Don’t worry, you’ll see me at the altar.”

And once again, Momo is left alone in the hotel room. She takes a final look at herself in the mirror, makes sure nothing is out of place, then she lets out an exhale before she goes.

The car ride on the way to the venue is quiet, and Momo uses most of the time to marinate on Nayeon’s words from earlier.

There was something about... her word choice, maybe? Or was it the tone she used? Momo muses, but whatever it was, it gave the things she said a sense of finality to them that Momo  _ still _ couldn’t get a grasp on.

She desperately wants to know what Nayeon meant.

_ I won’t always be around to protect you. _

But she doesn’t have much time to think about it because they’re pulling up to the roundabout driveway of the large cathedral that Jihyo chose as their wedding venue, and Sana is scrambling from her place in the passenger’s seat to exit the car so she can open Momo’s door for her.

“I’ll see you inside,” is the only thing Sana tells her before she has to slip through the large church doors and march down the aisle with the rest of the entourage, taking her place by the altar with the other bridesmaids.

Momo spends a good amount of time just waiting for her turn behind the doors with a bouquet in her hands, and once again, she uses that time to think about all of the people in her life whom she fears to lose, and the one person she knows will never leave.

And as if on cue, Nayeon materializes beside her, just before she has to make her entrance.

“Ready?” Nayeon whispers, even though it’s not like anyone else can hear her, anyway. Her presence surprises Momo, but not enough for her to jump out of her skin.

_ What are you doing here? _ Momo replies through her through her mind’s voice, knowing fully well that Nayeon is telepathic towards her, and so that no one within their radius would notice Momo practically talking to herself.

“Uh, what does it look like?” Nayeon raises a brow, as if the answer to Momo’s question was supposed to be obvious.

But her answer is not at all what Momo was expecting to hear—

“I’m gonna walk you down the aisle and give you away, because who else is gonna do it?”

—and it makes her heart melt into a measly puddle of affection.

Momo wants to say— _ think _ —something in return, but the doors swing open and the sounds of a  [ wedding march ](https://youtu.be/lKYUVHbCR1E) fill her ears. She looks inside the church and sees all the guests stand up from their pews, all of them looking back to watch her, all of their eyes on her.

Nayeon links her arm with Momo’s—again, it feels cold and it creates a chain reaction of goosebumps all over Momo’s skin.

“Come on,” Nayeon says, gently tugging on Momo’s arm, urging her to move forward, “It’s time.”

They march through the threshold together, into the uncertainty that is Momo’s future.

Momo spares each row of guests a glance; most of them are here for Jihyo, she knows that much, because it’s impossible for her to have invited anyone else to this event. She had expected all of them to be watching her with judgeful eyes, but from what she’s seeing now, they only seem expectant in a good way. Some looks are that of admiration, while some are that of pride. Is it possible that they’re happy that  _ she’s _ the one walking towards their loved one? Would they have looked at her differently if she was someone else?

She diverts her attention to the front, where the marriage officiant stands in the middle, in front of the altar. She looks to one side and sees Sana wearing a huge, dopey smile on her face. If Momo was any closer, she would notice the tears that are welling in her eyes.

Beside Sana are Mina and Chaeyoung, two more friends that she met through Jihyo, who volunteered to be her bridesmaids. When Momo thinks back on it, she realizes that she does have a particular connection to those three, maybe enough to call them her best friends, too.

At the farther end of that side is a grand piano, where Dahyun sits, gliding her fingers over the keys and playing the beautiful wedding song that she offered as a wedding gift for her two closest friends.

Now, Momo shifts her view to the other side of the altar.

First, she spots Jeongyeon and Tzuyu, Jihyo’s maid of honor and bridesmaid, who Dahyun will be joining after her set.

She sees Jihyo’s parents, who are standing by and also watching her with big smiles on their faces. She has met them before, and she was always afraid that, behind her back, they were actually belittling their daughter’s decision to be with her. But now, their smiles look sincere, and maybe Momo can believe that they wouldn’t have anyone else take their child’s hand in marriage.

But right now, the two of them are obstructing her view. Until they finally step aside and...

Jihyo looks  _ breathtaking _ in her own white and gold wedding gown, holding a bouquet that matches Momo’s, while her long rose gold hair cascades in beautiful beach waves over her chest. Momo’s close enough now to see the look in her eyes that are filled not just with tears, but with adoration that she can feel is directed at her. Her gaze trails down to Jihyo’s lips, which have broken into a wide gummy smile, the same smile that Momo has found herself falling in love with over and over again.

The sight makes Momo’s eyes well up themselves, and it takes everything in her not to break down right at that moment.

But she also can’t help but smile at the sight of Jihyo, the woman who chose to spend a lifetime with her, who wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, who  _ loves _ all of the parts of her that she could never even bring herself to accept.

Suddenly, everything starts to move in slow motion. 

They make it to the front of the room and Jihyo’s dad reaches out to greet Momo, opening his arms for a hug. When Momo moves to meet him, she feels a grip on her arm loosening before it slips away, and she feels prompted to look back to see where it went.

Nayeon takes a step back, then stays rooted in her spot, watching Momo with fondness in her eyes. She’s smiling, but her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes like Momo would want them to, and Momo feels herself hesitating out of concern for her friend. But Nayeon is quick to sense this; she waves Momo off, mouthing for her to  _ just go _ . 

Momo gives her a soft, grateful smile before she looks forward again, then she moves to embrace her soon-to-be in-laws. After a few greetings and well wishes, she joins her bride-to-be at the altar.

“I feel the need to say,” Jihyo speaks into the mic that she holds with shaky hands, “I  _ did not _ prepare my vows beforehand. There’s just... kind of an outline in my head, so forgive me if this comes out really messy.”

A few chuckles resonate from the audience. Momo’s eyes skim through the crowd for a bit; she’s looking for a reassuring flash of red but she can’t find it anywhere. 

Her heart rate picks up at the thought of not knowing where Nayeon is. Momo isn’t sure she can get through this without her even though they’re pretty much halfway through the event. Her brain is already starting to ruminate over worries about how Jihyo might be about to confess something that she never said before, perhaps the truth about how she doesn’t love Momo as much as everyone thinks she does.

She could be on the verge of humiliating Momo and breaking her heart in front of everyone, and Nayeon isn’t even here to see it or to help her get out of it.

But then Jihyo starts to speak again, and the melodic sound of her voice pulls Momo out of the realms of her mind. She turns her head to face Jihyo again, immediately meeting her large brown eyes, and instantly getting lost in the way they sparkle.

“Momo would know, I’m usually meticulous with things like this,” Jihyo says to begin her speech, looking into Momo’s eyes with wonder and once again breaking out into the most raw and genuine of smiles, “But I wanted to see what would happen if I spoke from the heart, starting with a list of things I’ve learned about Momo in the five years we’ve been together. Uh, let’s see...”

_ Oh.  _ Momo can already imagine all the ways this is going to go wrong.

“Momo is the most selfless person I’ve ever met.”

Oh?

Jihyo suddenly grows bashful, dipping her head and smiling dumbly to herself as she ponders on more things to say. “I knew that from the moment I met her. See, one night I decided to have a night out with my friends, and she happened to be working at the bar we went to... then a guy started getting a bit too close for comfort, and Momo noticed and straight up punched him in the face!”

Laughter comes from the crowd again, and Momo finds herself joining them despite her nerves. She remembers that night very well.

“Yeah, well... she got fired that night,” Jihyo continues with a giggle, “Then she got arrested, but I bailed her out and helped her get a job at Mina’s studio—oh, another thing I learned about Momo: she’s an  _ amazing  _ dancer—”

Jihyo looks up at Momo again, as if Momo had been the one to hang up all the stars in the night sky, as if she was the one who created the universe with a big bang.

“—but she doesn’t see it. If there’s anything I’ve learned about Momo, it’s that she doesn’t see herself the way I see her. She doesn’t see how talented she actually is, not just at dancing but at other things like singing and cooking, and she doesn’t see how good of a person she is. She doesn’t know how she shines like the northern star that guides lost people back home, and she doesn’t know how easy it is for me to love her.”

Momo can’t help but blink at Jihyo in confusion, jaw hanging agape as her mind tries to process the way her bride is showering her with all these compliments when she was expecting to hear quite the opposite. She’s trying to read Jihyo’s eyes, the way she looks at her, for any signs of deception or insincerity, but Momo finds none of that. Jihyo is speaking her utter and raw truth.

“That’s why,” there’s a tremble in Jihyo’s voice now, from the overwhelming emotion that comes from baring her heart not just to Momo, but to everyone else in the room, “Momo, I vow to spend the rest of my life reminding you of how amazing you are. I’ll spend everyday reminding you how much I love you, and how glad I am that it’s  _ you _ I’m choosing to spend a lifetime with. I really don’t care if you grit your teeth in your sleep or even  _ talk to yourself _ sometimes!”

Jihyo ends her speech lightheartedly, and Momo has never felt more delighted to hear a comment about how she ‘talks to herself’.

There are tears in Jihyo’s eyes again. Momo reaches her hand out to cup Jihyo’s cheek, swiping a droplet from under her eye, and they exchange wet chuckles as the audience lets out a collective  _ awww _ at the sight of their love for one another.

Then Momo realizes it’s her turn to talk.

But she feels a newfound bravado now, a sense of strength that came from hearing Jihyo talk about the pure and absolute feelings she has for her.

“Uh, hello,” she says into her mic, addressing the crowd and taking Jihyo’s hand in hers, “I’m Momo. In case you didn’t know.”

It’s a lighthearted start and it elicits more laughter from the guests, and Momo finds more confidence to continue.

“I feel like I should introduce myself a bit, since there are a lot of people in this room I haven’t met.” She takes a deep breath before continuing, “You may have noticed but I don’t have parents who are present today. They, uh, left me when I was really young, and I had to deal with that fact a lot while I was growing up.”

She can feel the crowd going silent, and for a moment she’s unsure if they’re actually all judging her in unison or maybe they’re just surprised at the information, but she can also feel Jihyo’s concerned eyes on her, and she lets that encourage her to keep going.

“I don’t want to talk too much about my past, so I guess the basic gist is that I was really lonely back then. Though, I did have one friend who kept me company, and if it were possible, I would’ve asked her to be my maid of honor. No offense, Sana.”

The guests liven once more at her joke, but all Momo thinks about is how Nayeon really would have been the  _ perfect _ maid of honor. Again, she wonders where the spirit is lurking now. She can only hope that she’s listening.

“But, if I’m going to be honest... my life truly began when Jihyo came along.”

She turns to face the girl before her, the girl whose hand fits perfectly into hers. She can see Jihyo’s eyes starting to water yet again, and it’s taking everything for Momo to keep it together for just a bit longer.

“Jihyo coming into my life was like... the clouds parting on a rainy day, making way for the sunlight to peek through and dry up the puddles on the pavement. It was like waking up to find an aspirin and a glass of water on the bedside table after a night of partying with some hard liquor. I know that’s a weird comparison, but that’s how it felt, okay?”

Her words are clumsy, she knows they are. But Jihyo is staring at her with such a wide smile and glassy eyes and all the love she possesses in her small body, and somehow it feels like her words truly matter.

“I’ve been through a lot, and I still have my bad days.” There’s a crack in Momo’s voice now and she can barely register when tears start streaming down her cheeks. “But at the end of the day, Jihyo’s always there, with her arms already open for me to curl into. She makes everything better. She makes me feel stronger. She makes me feel so  _ loved _ in a way that feels like I don’t deserve it. It’s warm and it’s welcoming and it’s nothing like I’ve ever felt before, and if there is one word that I could use to really describe it... I would say it’s the most  _ real _ thing I’ve ever felt in my life.”

A sob bubbles its way up from Momo’s throat and more sobs threaten to follow, and suddenly it feels hard for her to continue because this is, honestly, the most of her feelings that she has ever verbalized in her twenty-five years of living. Jihyo, who is equally a mess of tears and hiccups, tightens her grip on Momo’s hand as she rubs circles on the back of it with her thumb.

Momo looks up to meet Jihyo’s watery gaze, but a flash of red over her shoulder catches her attention. She looks past Jihyo and sees Nayeon staring right back at her, leaning on the cathedral’s wall and sporting a thumbs up and a proud bunny-toothed grin.

And just like that, her resolve returns.

“Jihyo,” she says, looking back into the eyes of her almost-wife, “You’ve given me so much in life. So many things to look forward to and so many things to believe in. I only hope that, when we start this new chapter together, I can return just as much of the love that you give to me. I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to do enough, trying to  _ be _ enough for you.”

“God, Momo, you’re already enough!” Jihyo slaps the side of her arm lightly, endearingly, then wipes away another stream of tears from her cheek. She faces the officiant before saying, “Sir, can you make us wives now? I wanna kiss her already!”

“Ma’am, I thought you’d never ask,” the officiant chuckles. Momo and Jihyo take a moment to calm themselves down from pouring out their deepest emotions, then the officiant starts again.

“Momo, do you take Park Jihyo as your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish until death do you part?”

Momo spares Nayeon another glance, and when Nayeon gives her an approving nod, she returns her focus to Jihyo, slipping a golden ring onto her left ring finger. “I do.”

“And Jihyo, do you take Hirai Momo—”

Jihyo doesn’t hesitate in slipping the ring on Momo’s finger. “Is that even a question? Of course I do!”

The room fills with laughter again before the officiant finally concludes, “Then, by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you wife and wife.” He pauses for an achingly long beat to tease, then he finally says, “You may kiss the bride.”

Not even a second passes before Momo and Jihyo pull each other into a kiss that tells so much more than the words they exchanged not too long ago. It carries every bit of the love that they’ve carried for the past five years, and it feels like such a celebration, accompanied by the cheers and the standing ovation of their wedding guests. Momo melts into the kiss easily, and she truly hopes that everything she feels for Jihyo, and all of the promises that she has for her now- _ wife _ , are being conveyed through this simple yet grand gesture.

From the side of the room, Nayeon joins in the crowd’s applause, shedding her own ghostly tears that are born of nothing but pure gladness and pride for her best friend.

The reception is held in a ballroom of the same hotel everyone came from earlier. It’s one of the smaller ballrooms, but it's big enough to accomodate all of the invited guests who are now enjoying the buffet dinner. In one table sits the maids of honor and the bridesmaids, the six of them chatting animatedly about an inside joke that is, of course, initiated by Dahyun. Momo and Jihyo watch their friends with amusement from their own personal table on a platform in the front of the room, right next to the three-tiered wedding cake.

Everything has gone smoothly ever since they exchanged her vows, and now Momo doesn’t find herself with a single worry as the rest of the day goes by. Even during the customary cake-slicing, where Momo would normally have an unsteady hand from an insane amount of nerves that should be coursing through her, she manages to slice the cake properly with the help of Jihyo’s guiding hand over hers.

Right when the newly-wed couple finishes off their shared slice of cake, the sound of metal repeatedly clinking against a glass reverberates within the room, followed by multiple other glasses being clinked in unison. It’s the typical signal for them to kiss, so they do exchange a soft, chaste kiss that tastes like buttercream frosting.

“Alright!” Sana says into a mic, resuming her duty as the emcee for the evening, “I think it’s about time the newly-weds share their first dance as wives, right?”

The guests cheer in response, and Momo and Jihyo are given no other choice but to stand and walk down to the dance floor, hand-in-hand. As if they would’ve chosen otherwise, anyway.

They make their way to the very middle, and when the  [ music ](https://youtu.be/9U1jiaRsHok) begins, Momo takes the opportunity to lead as she places her hands on Jihyo’s waist, while Jihyo rests her palms on Momo’s shoulders.

As they sway along to the slow rhythm and the gentle notes of the piano, Momo loses herself in the galaxies of Jihyo’s eyes, smiling wide like a teenager in love. Jihyo is looking at her the exact same way, with an equally wide smile that makes her eyes crinkle at the sides, and it makes Momo’s heart flutter beyond control.

Everything about this moment fills Momo with complete and utter bliss. Here she is, the girl who has been alone for as long as she could remember, shunned by those who surrounded her who wanted nothing to do with her for God knows  _ what _ reason, now sharing a dance with someone who had promised to love her for every second of everyday, until the universe will allow it.

In her life, Momo would have never thought herself to be able to receive anything that would feel this good or fulfilling. She must have done something in her previous life to deserve this— no, perhaps she truly was the good person she never saw herself as for her to deserve this.

Momo pulls Jihyo closer to her, securing her arms around her waist—because  _ god _ , she wouldn’t want her to slip away—and perching her chin on her shoulder, where she can breathe in the familiar scent of Jihyo’s rose-scented perfume.

She’s no longer surprised when a familiar flash of red materializes in her line of sight as she and Jihyo continue swaying to the music.

Nayeon is looking at her with so much pride and so much fondness that Momo feels her heart swell even more with affection. For Nayeon to be revelling in this moment with her, to be experiencing this milestone together with her, is probably the best thing she could possibly ask for.

But there is something else in Nayeon’s expression, something that looks eerily similar to her demeanor earlier in the day—careful, yet solemn.

Her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes the way Momo would want them to, and it makes Momo furrow her brows trying to decipher what it could possibly mean.

Then, she remembers Nayeon’s words from a while ago.

_ I won’t always be around to protect you. _

Something clicks in Momo’s brain then, a revelation that makes her lift her head from Jihyo’s shoulder so that she can train her gaze on Nayeon properly. Nayeon must sense whatever is happening inside her brain because her already-small smile falters, and suddenly she seems hesitant and... afraid?

Nayeon has never been one who was afraid of anything. She was always the one who radiated courage, who gave Momo the strength she needed in hard times.

Momo wishes she could do the same for her now.

_ I’ll be okay, Nayeon, _ she voices out through her mind, hoping not just the words will reach Nayeon but the intention as well.

It does reach Nayeon, but it only makes her shrink to herself even more. “I don’t want to go.”

_ I don’t want you to go, either, _ Momo says,  _ But you have to, don’t you? _

Nayeon doesn’t answer, but Momo knows that the silence is confirmation nonetheless.

And as much as she would hate to let go of her lifeline that she has depended on for almost her entire life, Momo also knows that she has had Nayeon longer than most people should have an imaginary friend, and with that comes the realization that her time with Nayeon has always been borrowed.

There’s not much else she can do but let Nayeon go. If she were the person she was before falling in love with Jihyo, she wouldn’t have been able to fathom the idea of Nayeon not being by her side or being just a whisper away when she needs her, but now Momo knows better. Now, Momo is better.

Subtly, Momo nods her head as a silent beckon for Nayeon to come closer. When Nayeon approaches her, standing just a few inches behind Jihyo, Momo sees that her eyes are glossed over and welling up with ghostly tears.

Momo wants to reach a hand out for Nayeon to hold, but there are people watching, so she settles for verbal—mental—affirmation instead.

_ I’ll never forget you, I promise. _

Nayeon lets her tears fall at that, then brings a hand up to cup Momo’s cheek. As usual, it’s cool to the touch, something completely different from when Jihyo holds her, but still just as comforting.

She can’t help but sniffle when she asks, “You’re really gonna be okay?”

Momo offers a warm smile.  _ I am, and I have you to thank for that. For pushing me to follow my heart, and for always having my back when no one else did. _

And it’s enough to make Nayeon’s shoulders fall with relief as she smiles back at Momo. She pulls her hand back slowly—Momo already misses the coldness—and takes a step back.

“You’ll always have me, Mo,” Nayeon says, resting a hand over her chest, in the spot where her heart should be, “Right here.”

Momo can’t tell if her own eyes are about to spill tears or not, but Nayeon is starting to blur in her vision, and she’s getting the sense that their borrowed time is almost up.

She takes this last chance to tell Nayeon a set of words that should never be left unsaid.  _ I love you, Nayeon. Thank you for everything. _

Nayeon lifts the hand that was on her chest and uses it to wave a farewell.

“Thank you, Momo. I love you, too.”

In the blink of an eye, she vanishes for the last time.

Momo feels the tears running down her cheeks now, so she clings to Jihyo for comfort, tightening her grip around her wife’s waist and burying her face in the crook of her neck.

The scent of Jihyo’s perfume and the warmth she radiates as she holds Momo close, just as tightly, is enough to make Momo melt into contentment.

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for reading!!
> 
> my [twitter](https://twitter.com/_tteoktokki) and [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/_tteoktokki) in case u wanna be friends :D


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